In principle, wages are a matter for negotiation. There are no statutory minimum wages. Nor does the law prescribe fair wages. On the contrary: "With regard to the agreed content of the contract, any differentiation between individual employees is permitted," the Federal Supreme Court stated in a ruling. "If an employee negotiates less favorably than his colleagues, he must in principle accept the resulting poorer working conditions."
However, there is a limit to contractual freedom where pay inequalities are attributable to gender. Both the Federal Constitution and the Gender Equality Act, which came into force in 1996, stipulate equal pay for equal work for men and women. The Federal Supreme Court has repeatedly defined when pay differences between the sexes are justified and when they are not. The most important criteria:
- As a rule, wage differences that are based on objective reasons are not discriminatory: Education, seniority, experience, responsibility. However, the factors of professional experience and seniority become less and less important the longer the employment has lasted.
- Gender-neutral criteria can also be indirectly discriminatory, for example if too much weight is given to seniority without taking into account the typical family-related career interruptions of women.
- Better performance can justify wage differences if it is proven. The fact that higher performance - somehow - has an effect on work is not enough. Better work results are decisive.
- The situation on the labor market justifies wage differences only temporarily. The wage structure must be adjusted as soon as possible.
Female employees who are disadvantaged in terms of pay can defend themselves. They do not have to prove the discrimination, but only make it credible. If they succeed in doing so, the employer must prove the legitimacy of the pay difference. Those affected can demand fair pay for the future as well as back pay for a maximum of five years. In the cantons, there are arbitration boards against discrimination in employment, which can be called upon before taking legal action. If the conciliation procedure is unsuccessful, there is still the option of taking the matter to the labor court.
Important to know: Female employees who defend themselves against discrimination are protected against dismissal for the duration of an internal complaints procedure, arbitration or court proceedings and for six months beyond this period. A dismissal issued despite this would simply be invalid.
Book tip:
Employment law - from contract to termination
The need to find out about your rights in the workplace is growing. After all, those who are well-informed are better able to assert themselves on the job market today. From negotiating wages, concluding contracts, working hours, special working conditions such as working from home to termination and references:
The Beobachter employment law specialist answers all questions competently.
10th edition 2009,
Beobachter-Buchverlag,
ISBN 978-3-85569-412-9
272 pages, paperback,
Fr. 36.?.

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The Beobachter Consulting Center offers you and your employees expert advice by telephone on legal issues concerning your company - 6 months for only Fr. 99.-. Order the consulting package for SMEs at
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The first danger is that free apps are thrown onto the market in a rush - just to be part of it - in the belief that they will then be charged for at some point. Do the publishers really believe that this is realistic? The example of the Internet should actually show everyone clearly enough that this is not possible. Once free - always free, it's as simple as that.
If you look at well-made, paid media apps like Spiegel, Iconist or Paris Match - to name just three examples - you quickly realize that the effort required to regularly feed them with content is very high. I'm not talking about the technical effort here, that's actually within reasonable limits. I'm talking about the editorial effort. It's not just about having good stories, they also have to be optimally prepared if you want to charge money for them. The quality has to be right. The traditional Internet picture gallery for clicking through with any stock photos or blurred reader photos does not meet these requirements. Blurred films and shaky news reports may work in the free world of the Internet, but in the higher-quality world of the iPad, they just seem clumsy and cheap. Nota bene, this also applies to the text. Online texts that are unfortunately often very sloppily written in the daily battle for time may be appreciated in the fast-moving Internet world, but they are immensely annoying in the relaxed media usage environment of the iPad.
It is naïve to believe that such high-quality content can be produced on the side at low cost. Only media companies that already have access to good photos and moving images will be able to develop apps that media consumers are willing to pay for. Let's not forget, the free world of the Internet is just a finger's touch away.
But all this costs money. Depending on the case, even a lot of money. To be able to refinance these costs, the corresponding number of buyers is needed. Finding these in the small Swiss market will only be possible if the content is really good and cannot be found anywhere else for free. Not an easy prerequisite.
Pierre C. Meier, Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

The world's largest entertainment group earned a bottom line of 1.3 billion dollars with films such as Toy Story 3, Alice in Wonderland and Iron Man 2 and TV series, which is 40 percent more than in the same period last year. Sales climbed by 16 percent to 10.0 billion dollars in the period up to July 3. Group CEO Robert Iger was not the only one to speak of strong figures on Tuesday. The stock market saw it the same way and the share price rose by 2 percent after the close of trading.
www.sda.ch

The strategic Microsoft partner is currently managed by the two WPP networks Mindshare (traditional media) and Neo (digital media). This was confirmed by Yahoo spokesman Graham James to the American advertising trade press, as New-business.de writes. In the creative sector, the American Internet company works with Omnicom subsidiary Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in the USA and WPP subsidiary Ogilvy worldwide.
www.new-business.de

Interview with Netmetrix Managing Director Rolf Schmitz
WW: Is Google a Netmetrix customer?
Schmitz: No, Google is not a customer of ours, neither for the audit nor for obtaining the basic or profile data, although I would certainly like it to be.
According to a market study, 80 percent of websites in Switzerland that use a client-side tracking tool use Google Analytics. What does that mean for you?
The question is always for what purpose the website provider wants to use which tool. If the customer focuses very strongly on CRM aspects, for example in the tracking of individual specific web content, then free tools such as Google Analytics or Ad-Planner are useful additions to our offerings. We at Netmetrix have no problem with this and do not see ourselves in competition with Google. However, if the website provider wants to have a standardized measurement with which he wants to compete externally, for example to acquire advertising, then I don't think Google's offer is up to the task. The transparency of internal measurement processes and the comparability of website data is not apparent to the third party. In these cases, Netmetrix products are predestined for use by the customer.
Is that the main criticism you have of Google?
This is not criticism, but a statement of the status quo. You have someone you don't know what criteria they use to do what, and you can't demand disclosure. Nor do they know who to turn to locally if they need advice.
But you have no evidence that Google is cheating with the data and optimizing it for its own mill?
No, we would not want to imply such a thing in any way.
Where do you see the strengths of Netmetrix?
Our products provide orientation and planning at a high standardized level. We do not offer anything on the market that we cannot present transparently in terms of content. As is normal for an industry organization of our kind, we take a different approach: we have a set of regulations adopted by the market participants together with Netmetrix. This defines how we measure and ensures that this is done according to uniform criteria that are the same for each individual participant.
But from a purely technical point of view, can anyone measure the same thing?
Of course you can say: There is a PI at Google and there is a PI at Netmetrix. And so, on the surface, they are measured in the same way. Netmetrix checks the entire measurement process from tagging to data publication and ensures that all websites are measured according to uniform criteria. We are neutral as an authority, we are transparent. And our credo is to certify comparable values according to uniform criteria, which have also been adopted together with the market. The Netmetrix regulations and commission serve precisely this purpose: the market participants and methodologists sit at the table - and together we develop and continuously optimize a set of measurement instruments tailored to the Swiss market.
Is it necessary to control how Netmetrix operates it, or is it not ultimately up to the website operator to decide how well he wants to implement it, and at best accept disadvantages if he does not set it up optimally, e.g. does not display a tag on all pages?
If every website operator set up the measurement the way they wanted, there would be no uniformly comparable data for the advertising industry. We see ourselves as a service provider and monitoring body for the Swiss market and Swiss clients. And that's why we support our customers with advice and assistance on site in Switzerland. This starts with hosting the data here in Switzerland, continues with permanent monitoring of the technical provision by us and ends with technical and project support from our technicians. We also advise our customers on special reports, for example, and train the customer's employees on site in the use of our tools. This is an added value that should not be underestimated and which our partners in the market also greatly appreciate.
Many in the market, especially in the publishing industry, would like to have figures for unique users in the sense of readers per issue in print. Can you provide this information more frequently than twice a year today?
We currently use our Netmetrix profiles product to deliver the unique user reach for all the websites and their sub-categories twice a year, similar to print media research. In principle, it would be conceivable to increase the publication frequency. This is a question of increasing costs and market interest. The Netmetrix profile product not only consists of the unique user, but also includes additional features such as socio-demographics, subject interests and Internet usage habits.
Google Analytics now contains various metrics that Netmetrix does not offer.
There are two types of metrics in our product audit: Firstly, there is the data certified by Netmetrix, which is published as a transparent ranking for all to see. And then each of our customers has further values in their internal access, but these may not be disclosed externally.
Why this publication ban, which you also enforce? Is this not an additional obstacle compared to Google Analytics?
Our product audit focuses on audience measurement data for the Swiss online advertising market. The data undergoes a complex certification process and is published monthly. This data is relevant for the acquisition of online advertising and the client may use Netmetrix certified as a label for this purpose. The internal data is an additional add-on for our customers.
And what about when it comes to mobile? You still have a gap there ...
... you're right. We are working on it, we have a mobile working group and we are working on findings to provide the customer with reliable data. We don't yet know how this data will be presented and whether there will be a fourth product for this. We have also set up a project for streaming audio and video streams, where we are working hard on a solution with a working group.
Will these solutions come before or after the next twelve months?
You should rather assume that we don't want to sit this out. But if we develop a system together with the market, it must also work in the longer term. It is therefore important that we weigh up the various scenarios carefully and consider what we see ad hoc today, as well as what we will see in 6, 12 or 18 months' time. This raises classic questions such as: When will mobile be mobile? And will we still be talking about a mobile versus fixed classification in two years' time?

Interview with Matthias Meyer, company spokesperson for Google Switzerland
WW: What are Google's intentions with Analytics and AdPlanner?
Meyer: We want to make the information accessible and usable - both products pursue this goal. While Analytics provides its users with relevant information about the use of their own website, AdPlanner provides general usage information for all websites.
What guarantees are there that Analytics and AdPlanner will continue to be available in at least their current form?
We are not planning to discontinue any of the products.
In terms of quality, can Google AdPlanner be used for media planning?
AdPlanner draws on a very large amount of data to collect usage statistics. This means that the usage statistics provided are very accurate and can be used for media planning. However, direct booking from AdPlanner is still often more time-consuming than with other media planning tools.
What efforts does Google make to ensure that Google Analytics is used consistently by all sites so that the figures are as comparable as possible?
The figures in AdPlanner only come partly from Analytics. In order to get comparable figures from there, it is sufficient if the Analytics code is implemented on the entire website - and this is necessary anyway if you want to use Analytics sensibly.

Interview with Barbara König, Publishing Director of Hotel Revue
WW: Hotel Revue is one of the publications that belong to Netmetrix's customer base. But why aren't you involved there?
King: The Hotel Revue (www.htr.ch) and the Hotelleriesuisse job portal (www.hoteljob.ch) address a very clear specialist target group (hotels, restaurants and tourism). In a public listing such as Netmetrix, our sites are lumped together with public sites. In this comparison, our visits look rather meager. However, if you consider that the majority of visits probably come from the intended target group, these figures take on a completely different value. We have already had this experience with the Wemf circulation comparison.
Are the rules of the game different for smaller publications than for the big ones?
In absolute terms, we are one of the smaller titles. But you have to realize that each issue of htr is read by an average of 8.3 people (reader survey 2009 with Demoscope) and htr is simply a must-read for the target group. Quantity is not everything. So if you only rely on absolute reach figures for media planning, you may miss out on quality.
And how do you sell this quality on the market?
The sale of a specialist newspaper and the sale of specialist portals cannot be based on general reach lists. On the contrary, comparisons with official reach lists are often a hindrance for us. What is important here is educating the target group and personal selling. And the figures from Google Analytics, which we are happy to disclose, are sufficient for this. In order to be able to compare ourselves with similar sites (job portals in the hotel industry), we also use the figures from Alexa.com. Even if there were a comparison where apples are really compared with apples, there would still be the sweet Bernese roses and the rather sour bean apples.

Agencies, companies, producers, programmers, manufacturers, designers and students are invited to take part in the competition with their productions from the areas of website, banner, microsite, event/game/installation, portal, blog, desktop application, e-mail marketing and terminal. The categories Mobile/Digital Innovation, App and Web TV have been added.
All multimedia applications produced in Germany, Austria or Switzerland in 2009 and 2010 or commissioned by companies based there are eligible. The Annual Multimedia jury will decide in fall 2010 which productions will be awarded prizes and published in the "Annual Multimedia 2011 - Yearbook for Digital Marketing".

Further information and registration: Annual-multimedia.com.

The advertisement refers to the Invitation advertisement and poster with the ibex. It will appear this Wednesday as a 1/1 ad in the Bündner-Woche.

Responsible at Amag: Michèle Tribolet (Assistant to the Management Amag Retail Chur), Camilla Hofer (Assistant), Dino Graf (Head of Group Communication Amag), Carmen Creus (Head of Marketing Services Amag). Responsible at Stahelpartner: Reto C. Zollinger (Art Direction), Mark Stahel (Creative Direction/Text). Responsible at Mediacom: Lars Hoffmann and Corinne Grollmuss.

Balz Rittmeyer supports Mitlinks in the conception, design and implementation of user interfaces for complex websites. Rittmeyer studied Interaction Design at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK. He won the Europrix Award in the 'Interactive Installations' category in 2009 with his BA graduation project 'akustisch'. The project breaks new ground in the use of multi-touch interfaces in digital sound production. Before joining Mitlinks, Rittmeyer worked as an intern at the German agency Art+Com in Berlin, where he dealt with the design of digital media. He has also worked as a freelancer for Exapoint Solutions.

Prerequisites for free participation in the newcomer competition are an exceptional portfolio, a convincing brand presence and steady economic growth. The winners will be presented at the award ceremony on February 3, 2011 in Berlin and prominently featured in the 2011 Yearbook of Advertising, Volume 48. The title "Newcomer Agency of the Year" has been awarded by the jury of the Advertising Yearbook since 1991. The advertising yearbook is published by Econ Verlag. The compendium documents the advertising industry in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Registration via the online form at Jdw.com.

Tenants and homeowners will be given the opportunity to make their building unrecognizable beforehand with an online form, the company said Tuesday. This option will be made available at the beginning of next week, it said. In addition to the online objection, one can also object to the publication of the recordings with a letter. According to Google, the image of the building in question will then be rendered unrecognizable using a "blurring" technique, so that it can only be seen in shadowy form.
In Germany, the plans for Street View had led to fierce criticism. Citizens fear that the service could be misused for criminal purposes, such as burglaries. The criticism became even louder after it became known in May that personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks was also recorded and stored by Google during camera movements for Street View. The company subsequently spoke of an error. The data was inadvertently recorded due to a programming error in the camera cars used for Street View. The service was therefore banned in Austria.
In Switzerland, Google is currently not allowed to publish any new images. However, camera tours with the Street View cars are still possible, provided that the route is announced in advance. The Federal Data Protection Commissioner Hanspeter Thür and the Internet company have agreed on this interim solution, pending a ruling by the Federal Administrative Court. Thür is striving for a European solution on how to deal with WLAN data. He says he has already contacted other European data protection authorities.

In "Borat", the British comedian played a Kazakh reporter on a trip to the US. He portrayed Kazakhstan as a backward state where minorities are discriminated against and prostitution and crime are commonplace. The Kazakh leadership was not at all pleased with the film. Now the oil-rich state is striking back - "My Brother Borat" is to set the record straight. In the film, which is due to be released in 2011, a young American visits Borat's homeland and finds a prosperous and modern state. According to the Kazakh director, the aim is to benefit from Borat's success and fame in the West and show people the "real Kazakhstan". A good idea, but it comes a little late. After all, "Borat" made the box office ring in 2006.

In addition to the front page with a slightly different title, the layout and jargon of the second and third pages were also adapted to the parodied medium. "It's pure lust that drives us," wrote WB editor-in-chief Stefan Calivers in an editorial for the summer series. "The desire for fat headlines and slim celebrities. The desire for big pictures and small texts. The desire for supple breasts and plump bosoms. The desire for one-sided analyses and ambiguous advertisements... "
The series did involve additional work, Stefan Calivers told the SDA news agency, but this was no greater than for the other summer series: Sometimes the boundaries of the office were crossed or employees were sent on the slopes with 50 francs and reported on it. The TV series "Big Brother" was countered in Willisau with "Big Sister".

Great response
Never before has a series triggered such a great response, says Calivers. And the response was overwhelmingly positive. After consulting the in-house lawyer, there was no fear of legal action from the parodied media. And no such action was taken. Only one kiosk operator had mixed feelings about the 20 Minuten parody. The supposedly free newspaper was "stolen" from his stand.

>Swiss simulated

>50 minutes

> Bleck

> Annabella

>The bowl week

> Pet bowl